You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under chapter
552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 128698.

The Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation ("MHMR") received a
request for information concerning MHMR's decision to provide legal defense or
indemnification to a certain individual. You claim that the requested information is excepted
from disclosure under section 552.103 and 552.107 of the Government Code. We have
considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the information at issue.

Section 552.103(a) excepts from disclosure information relating to litigation to which a
governmental body is or may be a party. The governmental body has the burden of providing
relevant facts and documents to show that section 552.103(a) is applicable in a particular
situation. In order to meet this burden, the governmental body must show that (1) litigation
is pending or reasonably anticipated, and (2) the information at issue is related to that
litigation. University of Tex. Law Sch. v. Texas Legal Found., 958 S.W.2d 479 (Tex. App.--Austin 1997, no pet.); Heard v. Houston Post Co., 684 S.W.2d 210, 212
(Tex. App.--Houston [1st Dist.] 1984, writ ref'd n.r.e.); Open Records Decision No.
551 at 4 (1990). MHMR must meet both prongs of this test for information to be excepted
under section 552.103(a).

You have submitted a copy of the Plaintiff's Original Petition to meet the burden under the
first prong of the test. In addition, you have submitted the information that has been
requested. We have reviewed the information and agree that the submitted information
relates to the pending litigation. Therefore, we find that MHMR may withhold the
information from disclosure under section 552.103(a).

In reaching this conclusion however, we assume that neither the plaintiffs nor their attorneys
have previously had access to the information at issue. Absent special circumstances, once
information has been obtained by all parties to the litigation, through discovery or otherwise,
no section 552.103(a) interest exists with respect to that information. Open Records Decision
Nos. 349 (1982), 320 (1982). In addition, the applicability of section 552.103(a) ends once
the litigation has been concluded. Attorney General Opinion MW-575 (1982); Open Records
Decision No. 350 (1982).

As section 552.103 is dispositive, we do not address your 552.107 claim. We are resolving
this matter with an informal letter ruling rather than with a published open records decision.
This ruling is limited to the particular records at issue under the facts presented to us in this
request and should not be relied upon as a previous determination regarding any other
records. If you have questions about this ruling, please contact our office.